Comedy and Tragedy in Waiting for Godot

For you, what is the most humorous moment of the play?  What is the most tragic moment? Share your ideas in a brief post (you may simply state the two points in the play, although you are welcome to explain your choices if you wish!). Due by Monday, February 13th. (Also, answer the poll on the right!)

The God of Small Things - chapter 13

Choose a short passage or quotation from chapter 13.  Analyse it and explain why you chose it.  Does it relate to postcolonial writing?  Due by Monday, December 5th.

Postcolonial Writing

Write a blog post (max. 400 words) in which you discuss a link you have found between one of the three poems studied so far and the first four chapters of The God of Small Things and how this link furthers your understanding of the synoptic topic.  You must quote at least once both the chosen poem and the novel.  Due by Wednesday, November 2nd.

Imagery in A Midsummer Night's Dream

Choose one motif or pattern of imagery in the play and write a paragraph explaining how it contributes to dramatic effect in creating atmosphere or character (or something else!).  Due by Thursday, June 9th.  Feel free to comment on other posts!

Features of language in A Midsummer Night's Dream

Share the paragraph you wrote with your group explaining the effects of the feature you chose.  Don't forget to write the names of the members of your group.  Feel free to comment on other groups' ideas.  Due by Monday, June 6th.

Globe on Screen: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Give a brief personal evaluation of this production based on what you consider to be its strengths and/or weaknesses. 
Click here for the names of the director, designer, composer, and cast: http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/theatre/whats-on/globe-theatre/a-midsummer-nights-dream-2013

Far from the Madding Crowd: 10th instalment

Post the following (no need to explain or justify unless you want to!):
-the quotation you feel best sums up the importance of this instalment
-the stylistic or literary feature you find the most effective in this instalment
-your title for the tenth instalment
Due by Thursday, March 24th, 8 a.m.

A Midsummer Night's Dream 3.2

Select a short passage from this scene (maximum 10 lines).  Indicate the passage you have chosen, then discuss its significance (e.g. effects of language, questions/issues raised, different meanings or interpretations, how it develops character or relationships, how it develops theme, dramatic effects, etc.).  Try to weave some quotation into your writing.  Don't hesitate to comment on other blog posts! Due by Wednesday, March 16th.

Christina Rossetti - exploring your favourite quotations

Choose your favourite phrase or line (up to two lines maximum) in the set poems by Rossetti and explain why it is your favourite.  Explore the significance of this quotation and the effects it creates.  Due by Monday, February 8th.

Far from the Madding Crowd: quotations (2)

Choose a quotation from the fourth instalment (chapters XV-XX).  Remind us what chapter it comes from, then explain briefly why you chose it.  Feel free to comment on other quotations!  Due by Monday, January 11th.

Voice lesson on imagery 2

Write a paragraph in which you create a scene through auditory imagery.  The purpose of your paragraph is to create a particular mood.  Use one olfactory image to enhance the mood created by auditory imagery. Comment on at least one other post - mood created, choice and effectiveness of imagery. Due by Friday, December 18th. (ps Don't forgot to vote in the poll to the right)

Rhyming couplets 2.1

Come up with a rhyming couplet for Demetrius to say to Helena just before leaving (see lines 241-244), summing up his opinion or feelings.  Write in iambic pentameter!  Feel free to comment on your classmates' rhyming couplets.

Far from the Madding Crowd: quotations

Choose a quotation from the first two instalments of the novel (chapters 1-5 / chapters 6-8).  Remind us what chapter it comes from, then explain briefly why you chose it.  Feel free to comment on other quotations!  Due by Thursday, December 3rd. (Also, please vote in the poll on the right!)

Voice lesson on Detail 2

About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters: how well they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;
    W. H. Auden, “Musée des Beaux Arts”

Task: substitute another general term for suffering in the first line (e.g. laziness, happiness…).  Now rewrite the fourth line with details about the opposite condition of your term.  Share your new stanza on the blog and comment on one other stanza.  Due by Friday, November 27th.

Voice lessons - Diction 2

"Her face was white and sharp and slightly gleaming in the candlelight, like bone."

Substitute a noun for bone that changes the meaning and feeling of the sentence.  React to a classmate's substitution, commenting on how it changes the sentence's connotation and impact.

Voice lesson on tone

Write a paragraph about something that amazed or amazes you.  Use diction, detail, imagery, and syntax to convey your sense of wonder.  Comment on the effects and/or effectiveness of a classmate's blog post.  Due by Friday, November 6th. (Also, please answer the poll on the right)

Voice lesson on syntax

Write a short paragraph on the subject of your choice. Use a variety of sentence types and lengths, with at least one exclamatory sentence that clarifies or amplifies a declarative sentence.  Comment on the effects and the effectiveness of at least one other post.  Due by Friday, October 9th.

Voice lesson on Imagery

Write two sentences that create a particular mood (terror, threat, joy, gloom, excitement...).  Use at least two types of imagery to describe the weather, thereby setting and reinforcing the mood.  Comment on at least one other post (imagery, language, effects, effectiveness...).  Due by Friday, October 2nd.

Voice lesson on detail

Choose a color and describe a scene using at least three varieties of that color.  Try to mix details of landscape and people.  Share your description with the class on the blog, and comment on at least one other blog post (effects created through the use of detail, effectiveness...).  Due by Thursday, September 24th (both your blog post and your reaction to another post).

Voice lesson on diction

Share the a simile you wrote comparing a tree with a person (using a word that is normally used as a noun as an adjective).  Comment on at least one of your classmate's similes (why you like it, what it evokes for you, how effective it is...).  To be done by Friday, September 18th.